


Request 4 (Saerys)

by Yoselin



Series: L&L Tumblr Prompts [4]
Category: Love & Legends (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:55:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13382532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yoselin/pseuds/Yoselin
Summary: Originally posted to Tumblr.Prompt: “The WQ is deafted for real, Saerys and MC get married and MC get pregnant, but she dies during labor, how does Saerys deal with it? He is no longer the last demon, but it cost the life of his soulmate.”





	Request 4 (Saerys)

How does life spiral downwards so fast?  
Saerys wonders this as he regards the sleeping infant in the crib. The young boy naps blissfully unaware to the war of emotions raging inside his father.   
Saerys’ fingers reach out to stroke the child’s mass of dark hair. His eyes take in all of the boy’s features. For some reason, fate has laughed at him and taken his beloved from him one last time.   
The child, who should have been one final memory of his late wife, has become an identical copy of Saerys. There is nothing of his mother in his face, hair, or eyes. Thus, even this last chance of seeing some part of his late soulmate has been taken from him.   
A strangled sigh leaves Saerys as the infant wraps his hand over one of Saerys’ fingers. The child clings to his father even in sleep. Saerys isn’t quite sure what to make of that.   
A large part of him is thankful. In the span of a few years, Saerys went from being the last of the Demons to a father of a half-demon. Due to his son’s birth, his race may yet continue on in the genetic pool for many more generations-  
Yet this realization provides only a piece of him warmth. There is another part of him, a more tortured half, that resents the fact that his wife had been the one to suffer the price of it.   
Just a year into their marriage, she had died in labor and left behind a grieving husband and child.   
The memory is a painful one that often keeps him up at night. Saerys hadn’t even been near his wife when it had taken place. He had been with August and Altea in the coastal domain rebuilding the land ravaged by war. The Witch Queen has been defeated a year earlier, yet the remnants of her war had left many homeless. Reiner had ordered them to rebuild the homes of the fair folk who resided there with the council’s help.   
And, so, on the morning after the first buds of spring, Saerys had been lifting a large wooden log when he had felt it. There had been an immense pain before a cold emptiness. The bond he had once shared with his wife had been severed in a matter of moments and he had felt the half of her soul within him shatter.   
He hadn’t even needed to wait for the messenger carrying the bad news of his wife’s passing before he had been running. His friends had attempted to stop him, unaware as to what had occurred, but Saerys had sidestepped them.   
He had planned to run back to the human domain and see if it was true, but as the seconds wore on and the bitter emptiness in him remained, he knew he wasn’t mistaken.   
His wife had died and left him alone.   
What had followed that realization was a dizzying blur of despair and bitterness.   
Saerys’ memory was distorted and hard to recall with only bits and pieces coming to him at a time.   
He remembered jumping into the water, certain that he would drown and join his wife in the afterlife, he remembered floating there before hands had pulled him up and mermaids had dragged him to shore where Altea and August administered first aid, he remembered resisting against them as they carried him to an infirmary, remembered arriving in the human domain days later and shoving past Reiner who had attempted to apologize for his loss, remembered entering the nursery where his son was being fed by Solaire, and remembered taking the infant from Solaire and all but threatening her that if anyone touched his son again he would rip their throats out.   
After that, more time had passed and Saerys had learned to shoulder the burden better than before. Rage had cooled into distilled grief and acceptance.   
He had learned to watch over his child on his own, had learned to cope with the grief of half his soul missing once more, and had learned to ask for help.   
It was funny, really. Saerys had prided himself on never needing anyone’s assistance in life, prided himself in being self sufficient and independent, yet he had been forced to turn to Solaire and Ryland for assistance.   
Days after he had issued the decree of forbidding anyone from entering the nursery, his son had not stopped crying. Colics had plagued the infant day and night and Saerys had been powerless to stop them.   
After the third night of no rest, he had sought out Solaire and all but begged her to assist him, lifting the ban on his son’s visitors and pleading for help. Solaire had followed him into the nursery and calmed the child in mere moments before giving him instructions on how to do the same later on.   
Now, months later with her instruction, Saerys was confident in his ability to raise his son on his own. He alone could stop the child’s colics, he alone could help the child after a nightmare, and he alone was the one the boy reached for when he cried.   
A shift from the crib stirred Saerys from thought and he watched as the child awoke. Mismatched eyes stared up at him before tiny hands lifted up.   
So he wanted to be carried.   
Saerys felt himself smile softly as he lifted the child up on his arms. The boy pressed his fingers against Saerys’ cheek lightly before a spark jutted out.   
“Ow,” Saerys winced. He made a playful face at the infant who laughed lightly in turn.   
A few months ago, the first signs of power had begun to take shape within his son. First, carbon copies of Saerys’ own markings had appeared on the child’s skin and disappeared within a day, then tiny horns had sprouted from a mass of dark hair before receding faster than Saerys could register, and then, finally, his son had conjured up a tiny flame in his palm that had disappeared in a plume of smoke moments later.   
Thus, even though the child was only half demon, he was already showing signs of carrying his father’s power.   
A gurgle from the child drew his attention back. His son was making light wink at his fingertips. The light flickered on and off weakly before fizzling out, this seemed to irritate the baby who began waving his hand angrily as if to threaten the light into staying longer.   
Saerys grinned softly and made a ball of light appear in his own hand. The sight made his son pay attention and stop smacking his hand around.   
Saerys was able to keep his own flame around for a short period longer before letting it die out. If his wife saw him now, able to control his abilities even outside of his demon form, she’d probably be proud-  
Then again, if she knew he was using them so close to her son she might dropkick Saerys-  
Regardless, the child seemed to enjoy these displays of power and tried desperately to copy them without any success.   
“Try and keep the light on with your emotions. Channel something and feed it to the light,” Saerys murmured. He wasn’t sure why, his son couldn’t understand him, yet he felt the need to say it out loud.   
As predicted, his son didn’t listen. Rather, he reached out for Saerys face and made sounds at the back of his throat.   
Saerys adjusted his grip and leaned closer to him.   
“Are you trying to say a word?” He wondered it aloud and the child grabbed a fistful of Saerys’ hair.   
At his father’s startled noise, he let out a shriek of amusement and kept his hold before Saerys pried his fingers off gently.   
“That’s not a word,” Saerys scolded playfully, “try and say something. Ryland said you should start talking around now, I think. Try and say...”   
Saerys repeated the word for ‘father’ in the demon language. His child stared blankly at him in turn and tugged at his hair again.   
Wincing, Saerys shook his hair out of his grasp.   
“So you’re not bilingual yet, alright. Try and say ‘Dad’ then. ‘D-aaa-d’” He repeated it a few times, pronouncing each syllable carefully, yet his son ignored him.   
He opted for another sharp tug at his hair and Saerys let out a frustrated hiss of pain.   
“What is with you and my hair? Do you want me to go bald?” He growled it playfully and lifted his son up like a kite.   
The child let out a shriek of laughter and closed his eyes. Saerys watched as tiny horns sprouted from his head before disappearing.   
Understanding dawned on him and he laughed lightly.   
“Is that what you want? To see my horns? You should have said something then,” he chuckled.   
Complaint to his son’s wish, he strained to remember his wife’s voice. The memory of her was vivid and he found it easy to hear her repeat the demon word for ‘fire’. All at once, he transformed into his demon form just enough for his son to see his horns.   
Almost two years from the end of the war, and Saerys had learned to control his powers much more closely. Now, he held full control and sentience when in his second form.   
The child gawked up at him and tapped at his horns in amusement before trying to make his own appear. As always, they lasted seconds and were no bigger than his son’s pinky.   
Saerys shook his head and he returned to normal. His son reached out for his hair where his horns were now hidden again. A sound close to disappointment left him and Saerys smiled softly.   
“One day you’ll grow them properly, but for now let’s practice on speech. Can you say your name? ‘Day-maan’ It’s not that hard, really. Try it,” Saerys murmured.   
No reply.   
“I thought so,” he sighed.   
He lifted Daman into his arms and set him softly down on the crib again. The child made a strained noise, obviously wanting to be carried again, yet his mismatched eyes were slowly starting to drop.   
Saerys didn’t blame him, he was feeling tired himself, he yawned into his hand.   
“Get some sleep, little guy. Tomorrow I’ll teach you how to say something coherent or I’ll let you play with my horns again. Goodnight,” Saerys murmured.   
Turning away, he blew out the candle of the nursery and closed the door softly behind him.   
Once out, he leaned against the door and closed his eyes as a soft sigh left him.   
His life had taken a sharp down-spiral a year earlier when his wife had passed. It still hurt, almost a year later, to have lost his soulmate. The pain was constant and his soul still felt the loss of something great with every breath he took-  
Yet there was a new emotion swirling within him.   
Daman was his responsibility. Despite the nature of his birth, and his lack of resemblance, Daman had been his wife’s last gift. Saerys, amid his grief, had sworn to himself long ago to be the best father he could be and give his son the life his wife would have wanted for him.   
And now, kicking off the door and heading for his own room, Saerys was certain he was doing the best he could.   
A year ago, his life had down-spiraled and crashed with the death of his beloved, but now, with Daman sleeping peacefully in the nursery, Saerys felt that it was beginning pick up again. Taking care of his son had given him new purpose and direction.  
Now, Saerys’ only hope was that his wife, wherever she was in the afterlife, was proud.


End file.
